The research today

There are also efforts to remove current food contaminants and toxins. Aflatoxins for example are mycotoxins produced by species of Aspergillus flavus group. They show a high toxicity against humans and animals. Genetic engineering techniques could incorporate antifungal genes into specific plant species.

Another aspect is related to the composition of many cereals and crops, that is not actually optimum for some of the purposes they are used. Research on improving the composition for specific uses and types of cooking is underway. Genetic engineering allows levels of each component to be adjusted, which should improve the diversity of varieties available for food processing, for example wheat optimized for either bread or pasta making.

In agriculture a relevant aspect is the better adaptation of plants to specific environmental conditions that can be gained using genetic engineering techniques: this includes the better adaptation of crop plants to the changing environmental conditions, including climate change, increased UV radiation, changed rainfall patterns. Plants may be able to be more resistant to drought, flooding, salinity or sensitivity to heavy metals, so that they can be grown in areas of the earth currently beyond the tolerance range of species, or even those areas unable to be used for agriculture at all. Furthermore, other environments could be considered: tolerance to low temperature is also important, and, for example, an antifreeze gene from an arctic fish has been transferred to soybean, with the goal of creating plants tolerant to low temperature. Another aspect is related to chemical problems connected with plants growth: aluminum toxicity is a problem in low pH soils, where it may reduce plant growth. By making plants tolerant, they could grow better in such soils. Genetic modifications could lead to an increase disease and pest resistance and to the production of new cultivars with improved pest and disease resistance to promote more environmentally acceptable alternatives for food production. The genetic manipulation could lead finally to the utilization of new raw materials: traditional foods often involve consumption of only one or several parts of a plant, for example fruits, leaves, roots, or stems. Plants grown in one culture for roots may be eaten for their leaves in another, such as beetroot. Some plants may be eaten by humans in one culture, such as the plant rape in Japan, whereas it is used for rapeseed oil production in Europe.